Contents

 

Levitsky, Borovikovsky and Venetsianov Back in Russia

 

Grigori Goldovsky. Portrait of an Unknown >>>

 

Ludmila Markina. Tretyakov Gallery Acquisitions >>>

 

Leonid Arinshtein. The Empress’ Iconostasis >>>

 

The Space of the Russian Museum

 

Count A.S. Stroganov: Enlightened Love of the Motherland (Conclusion).

 

Sergei Kuznetsov. The Stroganov dacha: “Odyssey” on the Chernaya stream >>>

 

Yekaterina Deryabina. Count Stroganov and the Painter Hubert Robert >>>

 

Sergei Kuznetsov. Maryino: An Unrealized Memorial to 1812 >>>

 

Olga Kaparulina. Albums of the Stroganov Family and the Painter E.I. Yesakov >>>

 

Sergei Kuznetsov. Bratsevo >>>

 

Viktor Faibisovich. Trophy of the Russian “Empire Style” : Mediaeval Russian Weaponry in Monuments of Alexandrian Classicism >>>

 

Literature/History/Philosophy

 

N.B. Volkova. “I think all this should be in the RGALI…” : Discussion in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (“RGALI”). (Interview taken by A. Mankovsky) >>>

 

T.M. Goryayeva. “Archive of Muses”: Paths of Development and New Opportunities >>>

 

A.S. Vlasov. Detailed Information Concerning the Last Days of Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov. Publication by T.L. Latypova >>>

 

Lisztmania : From the Unpublished Diary of the Moscow Postal Director A.Ya. Bulgakov. Publication by Sergei Shumikhin >>>

 

Stepan Erzya and Maksim Gorky : From the Albums of Ye.P. Ivanov >>>

 

“I have my own tastes, feelings and fate” : V.A. Svitalsky in the Recollections of M.M. Melentyev and Other Materials. Publication by S. Shumikhin >>>

 

A.I. Troyanovskaya. The Story of a Piano from the Stürzvage Workshop. Publication by M. Rashkovskaya >>>

 

Encounter : Konstantin Balmont and Ivan Shmelev : Letters from K.D. Balmont to I.S. Shmelev. Introductory article and publication by K.M. Azadovsky and G.M. Bongard-Levin >>>

 

Natalya Semyonova. The Alchemy of Colour >>>

 

Natalya Konovalova. The Ashiks—A Dynasty of Collectors >>>

 

Tatyana Dolgodrova. Golden Age of the Book in Frankfurt-on-the Main >>>

 

Natalya Pomerantseva. Two Spring Landscapes by Savrasov >>>

 

Natalya Fyodorova. Konstantin Pankov and Painting in the 1930s >>>

 

“Our Heritage” Gallery

 

Vilyam Meiland. The Energy of Light >>>

 

Maria Chegodayeva. The Reality of Galina Makaveyeva >>>

 

Bookmark

 

Varvara Vyazovkina. The Implications of Dance >>>

 

Monika Spivak. “At the hour of the inevitable dawn…” >>>

 

At the end of 2001, three marvellous paintings were returned to Russia from abroad – pictures by D. Levitsky, V. Borovikovsky and A. Venetsianov – and allocated to the collections of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. They are the subjects of articles by Grigori Goldovsky Portrait of an Unknown >>> and Ludmila Markina Tretyakov Gallery Acquisitions [сделать ссылку на 6102], with which the present issue opens.

The story of the iconostasis of the former Church of the Transfiguration in Memel (mid XVIII century) is recounted in The Empress’ Iconostasis >>> by Leonid Arinshtein. The researcher maintains that the image of St. Elizabeth from this iconostasis is a portrait of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.

The conclusion of a large body of materials (for commencement see Nos. 59-60) under the general title Count A.S. Stroganaov: Enlightened Love of the Motherland  includes the articles: The Stroganov dacha: “Odyssey” on the Chernaya stream >>> by Sergei Kuznetsov concerning the creation of a country estate where, according to count Stroganov’s conception, the pages of Homer’s “Odyssey” would come to life; and, by the same author – Maryino: An Unrealized Memorial to 1812 >>> about the Stroganovs’ estate near St. Petersburg which, by the scope of its project, can only be likened in Russia to the great Pavlovsk; also, by the same author – Bratsevo >>> about the Stroganov estate near Moscow which is now a residential north-western suburb of Moscow. These contributions are followed by Yekaterina Deryabina’s article Count Stroganov and the Painter Hubert Robert >>> describing the close and long friendship between the Russian patron of the arts and the prominent French landscape painter and master of decorative ensembles of the last third of the XVIII century; a contribution by Olga Kaparulina Albums of the Stroganov Family and the Painter Ye.I. Yesakov >>> about album graphics at the end of the XVIII – first half of the XIX centuries (currently in the collection of the Russian Museum) and the place occupied in these albums by the work of the Stroganovs’ family painter, Yermolai Yesakov (1790–1840).

In Trophy of the Russian “Empire Style”: Mediaeval Russian Weaponry in the Monuments of Alexandrian Classicism [сделать ссылку на 6109] Viktor Faibisovich draws a clear distinction between the Napoleonic “empire” style and Alexandrian classicism, unjustly called “Russian empire” and disputes the widely held view that it was a mere imitation of the French.

The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (“RGALI”, Moscow) celebrated its 60^th anniversary in 2001. We present a selection of materials concerning the Archive and its holdings. The former director of the Archive, N.B. Volkova, talks to a correspondent of Our Heritage about the “blank spots” in Soviet history and the history of the cultural body which she headed for almost 40 years (“I think all this should be in the ‘RGALI’…”, >>>).  The present head of the Archive, Dr.T.M. Goryayeva, talks about the Archive today and its outlook for the future >>>.

This is followed by publications from the Archive’s holding, prepared especially by its staff for our journal: Detailed Information Concerning the Last Days of Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov >>>, compiled in 1855 by the director of the Vologda secondary school headmaster A.S. Vlasov about the years spent in Vologda by the wonderful Russian poet in a state of mental disorder; Lisztmania: From the Unpublished Diary of the Moscow Postal Director A.Ya. Bulgakov >>>, which records fascinating details about the Moscow tour of the great Ferenc Liszt in 1843; Stepan Erzya and Maksim Gorky: From the Albums of Ye.P. Ivanov >>> acquaints the reader with a hitherto unpublished letter from Maksim Gorky to M.G. Grigoryev (1920); “I have my own tastes, feelings and fate”: V.A. Svitalsky in the Recollections of M.M. Melentyev and Other Materials >>> recounts the tragic fate of an outstanding and nowadays virtually forgotten graphic artist and illustrator of the 1920s-1930s, Vladimir Svitalsky, who perished during the Soviet era (the publication is illustrated extant copies of lost works of the artist); the note The Story of a Piano from the Stürzvage Workshop >>> by A.I. Troyanovskaya was written in 1941, a year before the war – and is one of the outstanding documents from the album of the prominent man of letters, writer and religious activist, S.N. Durylin (1886—1954) preserved in the “RGALI”.

The publications in the rubric Literature / History / Philosophy, that began with the selection from the holdings of the “RGALI”, are continued by Encounter: Letters from K.D. Balmont to I.S. Shmelev >>>, including both short and long, seriously businesslike and humorous epistles from Konstantin Balmont written in 1926-1931, from the archive of Ivan Shmelev.

In The Alchemy of Colour >>>, Natalya Semyonova gives an account of the fate of the theatrical and graphic artist Boris Anisfeld (1878–1973), an exhibition of whose works was held in September 2001 in the Moscow Arts Centre.

Natalya Konovalova’s article The Ashiks—A Dynasty of Collectors >>> gives the story of one Leningrad (St. Petersburg) family collection of paintings, graphics, items of decorative applied art, the origins of which go back to the start of the XIX century (currently the collection is housed in the Yaroslavl Arts Museum and the “Tsaritsyno” Museum).

Tatyana Dolgodrova is the author of a series of articles on masterpieces of book printing housed in the Russian State Library (see Nos. 32, 42, 49 and 55 of our journal). Her latest contribution, Golden Age of the Book in Frankfurt-on-the Main >>> concerns XVI century books printed in Frankfurt-on-the Main that came to the Lenin Library (now the Russian State Library) as reparations in 1945-1946 from various collections in Eastern Germany – Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden.

Natalya Pomerantseva tells the story of two pictures by A.K. Savrasov “Hint of Spring” and “Early Spring” (1880s) from the Pomerantsev family collection in Two Spring Landscapes by Savrasov >>>.

Natalya Fyodorova’s contribution Konstantin Pankov and Painting in the 1930s >>> is a chapter from her book “The Northern Depictive Style. Konstantin Pankov. 1920s—1930s” which was prepared for publication by the journal Our Heritage (2002). It analyses the emergence of the style the height of which was epitomised by the Nenets painter Konstantin Pankov.

The permanent rubric “Our Heritage” Gallery carries notes by Vilyam Meiland about the painter Yuri Burdzhelyan >>> and by Maria Chegodayeva about the painter Galina Makaveyeva >>>.

The rubric Bookmark presents reviews by Varvara Vyazovkina of V. Gayevsky’s “The Home of Petipa” >>> and by Monika Spivak of a book of poems by Boris Sadovsky >>>.

 

Front cover: Christ Pantocrator (the icon is in the process of restoration). Detail. Memel portable iconostasis. Late 1750s. Photo by A. Sharoukhov. (See article The Empress’ Iconostasis by L. Arinshtein)